Half time: Nine ahead by 1 goal over Seven

Instead of trying to go back and recap each week of July that I have missed I have decided to give an overall rundown of Australian television through the first half of the year and the first few weeks of July as I have missed a lot. The last series of Big Brother on Channel Ten, but does the show have a future? Nine’s half-yearly lead, The Today Tonight hosting merry-go-round plus new shows such as Wipeout and The One becoming a success for Nine and Seven respectively.

Despite the absence (so far) of Kath and Kim, Thank God You’re Here, The Chaser and no new Chris Lilley mockumentary there have been some quality shows in the first half of the year.

July has seen Nine claim the half yearly lead with the most successful new bunch of shows whilst also having the most number of flops. Underbelly, Domestic Blitz, Ramsay, David Attenbrough and now Wipeout becoming very successful new programs for Nine whilst 60 Minutes has come back and Two and A Half Men has been a surprise success at 7pm. CSI and the second series of Sea Patrol also delivered very good ratings for the network.

Mediocre success for Celebrity Singing Bee, Fire 000 and Search and Rescue which could be given a second instalment like The Chopping Block, while the State of Origin series drew huge audience numbers with the third match, the highest ratings for Origin ever.

Nine have experimented more than the other networks with some spectacular failures such as My Kid’s A Star, Moment of Truth, Million Dollar Wheel, Monster House and Canal Road.

Seven, who are only slightly behind Nine have had stable success with Seven News and Today Tonight leading the charge. Deal or No Deal delivers huge audience numbers to the news hour which has been accredited to their News success.

To date, Seven have had no new stand-out shows except The One which has created headlines. Rather Seven have had success with the reliable programs, RSPCA: Animail Rescue, Australia’s Got Talent, Border Security, The Force, Medical Emergency, It Takes Two, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives despite the two American dramas taking a slight dip in their ratings this year.

Battle of the Choirs has not stopped 60 Minutes but had moderate success for Seven while Gladiators debuted strongly at almost 2 million viewers before hovering around the million mark.

The second series of City Homicide has been returning very healthy ratings which have been up and around the 1.5 million mark. Whilst All Saints has also been returning strong figures for Seven reflecting the current quality of Australian drama with Packed to the Rafters still to debut after the Olympics.

It looks like Prison Break and Lost have now run their course whilst Grey’s spin-off Private Practice has disappointed audiences almost as much as Lipstick Jungle’s abominable results, making Cashmere Mafia look a little more acceptable than this attempt at the new Sex and the City.

Ugly Betty has lost its way for Seven after debuting very strongly in 2007 while Dirty Sexy Money, Samantha Who and Bionic Woman have failed to excite. An odd scheduling move was made by Seven screening the second season of The Rich List on Saturday nights saw the program halted after it rated with around 1.4 million people in 2007 in the Monday 7:30 slot unlike the not very funny, Out of the Question hosted by Glenn Robbins being commissioned for a second series.

Over on Ten it was a great start to the year with So You Think You Can Dance Australia flying out of the blocks and performing well for the network. The Biggest Loser accompanied this series well while NCIS and Bondi Rescue continued to deliver strong results for Ten.

Rove has had mediocre results while Good News Week returned to our screens also performing OK without being outstanding but the talk so far has been about Big Brother bombing leading to Ten’s decision to cancel any future production of the series.

Marred with controversy, perhaps the time has come to put Big Brother on the backburner as the reality TV bubble may have now burst as we are filled with these factual documentaries and now thankfully the Australian drama genre is coming back.

ABC1 has once again produced quality programs that are starting to rival the commercial networks. Despite the absence of The Chaser and Chris Lilley, The Gruen Transfer and The Hollow Men have filled the void which will both have second seasons.

Spicks and Specks has once again been successful but its ABC News which is getting more and more viewers, perhaps we are starting to get over tabloid journalism and want real, hard news once again...

Which is where we look at daytime TV with The Today Show starting to find a place again for Nine providing a good fight with Sunrise. That is where the daytime line-up (which is again about to be tweaked) ends for Nine and Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies, The Morning Show beats Morning with Kerrie-Anne Kennerly every day while 9AM with David & Kim are continually losing audience numbers.

While Nine lead at half-time there is still a long way to go with the Beijing Olympics now on the horizon, the networks will turn their attention to their post Olympic schedules making the year a close contest for Nine and Seven.